History of New York City
MISCELLANEOUS - answer MISCELLANEOUS
Columbia Founded (1754) - answer The greatest university in the greatest city in the
world. Period.
Yale, P-ton, and Cambridge just can't compare to good old Pantone 292.
Originally founded as seminary institution to train clergy for ministry work. First
graduating class was all male between 7-15 students.
Conquest of New Amsterdam/Establishment of New York (1664) - answer The English
seized New Amsterdam from the Dutch in 1664. The city was seized without battle and
peacefully renamed New York after the King of England's brother: The Duke of York.
English conquest led to legal change when woman lost many of their rights and the
English government was less tolerant of religious diversity. But, as a whole, city
remained a relatively tolerant place for waves of immigrants.
Early censuses of New York illustrate incredible diversity relative to more homogeneous
and less tolerant cities like Boston.
- Myles
Tammany Hall - answerTammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the
Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political
organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789, as the Tammany
Society. It was the Democratic Party political machine that played a major role in
controlling New York City and New York State politics and helping immigrants, most
notably the Irish, rise up in American politics from the 1790s to the 1960s. It typically
controlled Democratic Party nominations and political patronage in Manhattan from the
mayoral victory of Fernando Wood in 1854 and used its patronage resources to build a
loyal, well-rewarded core of district and precinct leaders; after 1850 the great majority
were Irish Catholics.
Balloon-frame house - answerType of home popularized in 1910s and 20s as quick,
efficient, and affordable way to build pre-fab home.
Marketed in several models and sizes for consumer to pick and choose the home that
met their needs.
,Built of wood, often as bungalow and/or in arts and crafts style.
- Myles
Popular in 19th and 20th centuries.
Style of building house extremely quickly and cheaply.
Shift towards suburbanization: for working class to achieve the dreams of suburbs and
home ownership.
Gone out of fashion, were not very sturdy.
- Review Guide
America First Movement - answerThe America First Committee (AFC) was the foremost
non-interventionist pressure group against the American entry into World War II.
Peaking at 800,000 paid members in 450 chapters, it was one of the largest anti-war
organizations in American history. Started on September 4, 1940, it was dissolved on
December 10, 1941, three days after the attack on Pearl Harbor had brought the war to
America.
How many acres is Central Park? - answer843 acres
Bounded by 59th and 110th streets to the south and north.
Bounded by 5th and 8th avenues to the east and west.
- Myles
Manhattan Project - answerThe Manhattan Project was a research and development
project that produced the first nuclear weapons during World War II that started in
Manhattan with working continuing under Enrico Fermi at Columbia University's Pupin
Hall. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie
Groves of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer was the
director of the Los Alamos Laboratory that designed the actual bombs.
The Manhattan Project began modestly in 1939, but grew to employ more than 130,000
people and cost nearly US $2 billion (about $26 billion in 2016 dollars). Over 90% of the
cost was for building factories and producing the fissile materials, with less than 10% for
development and production of the weapons. Research and production took place at
more than 30 sites across the United States, the UK, and Canada.
NAACP (1909) - answerThe National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP) is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States,
formed in 1909 by Moorfield Storey, Mary White Ovington and W. E. B. Du Bois. Its
,mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of
all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination." The group enlarged
its mission in the late 20th century by considering issues such as police misconduct, the
status of black foreign refugees, and questions of economic development. Its name,
retained in accordance with tradition, uses the once common term colored people.
On May 30, 1909, the Niagara Movement conference took place at New York City's
Henry Street Settlement House; they created an organization of more than 40
individuals, identifying as the National Negro Committee [sic.]. Du Bois played a key
role in organizing the event and presided over the proceedings.
The Last Hurrah (1958) - answerNovel in the 1950's talking about the transition of
government. Last Election in Boston that Tammany Hall controlled.
The film tells the story of Frank Skeffington, a sentimental but iron-fisted Irish-American
who is the powerful mayor of an unnamed New England city (actually New York). As his
nephew, Adam Caulfield, follows one last no-holds-barred mayoral campaign,
Skeffington and his top strategist, John Gorman, use whatever means necessary to
defeat a candidate backed by civic leaders such as banker Norman Cass and
newspaper editor Amos Force, the mayor's dedicated foes.
Population Density - answerThe number of people per square mile in a city.
Reflects transportation patterns, urban history, and demographics.
Manhattan - 66,000 per square mile.
NYC average - 26,000 per square mile.
- Myles
Dutch West India Company - answerThe private company established by the Dutch
colonizers of New Amsterdam. Some of its responsibilities are as follows:
Purchase of land and fur from local Lenape Indians.
Appointments of officials in colonial government.
Providing for the common defense of New Amsterdam with local militia and construction
of Fort Orange in present day Battery Park.
Governed by the likes of Peter Stuyvesant and Dutch appointees from Amsterdam.
The West India Company was the less profitable counterpart to the Dutch East India
Company's tea colonies in Sri Landka and Indonesia.
- Myles.
, Half Moon - answerThe ship Henry Hudson sailed up the Hudson River on in 1609. He
was working on behalf of the Dutch East India Company in search of a the fabled
Northwest Passage as shortcut from Europe to China.
- Myles
HISTORIC PLACES - answerHISTORIC PLACES
New Amsterdam - answerFounded in 1625 by the Dutch
Extended across Lower Manhattan between Battery Park and Wall Street.
Built as riverene town with Canal running down Broad Street between the East River
and Wall Street.
Disorganized street pattern centered around terminus of Broadway at Bowling Green.
- Myles
Wall Street - answerThe northernmost boundary of Dutch New York
Originally a wooden palisade wall that protected the city.
Demolished as city expanded northward and threat of Indian attack subsided.
Street name remained.
- Myles
Five Points - answerNew York's largest slum at one time.
Named for intersection of five city streets at center of slum.
Visited by social reformers like Jacob Riis and writers like Charles Dickens.
In vicinity of present-day Chinatown, cleared to construct public parks and federal
courthouses.
- Myles
Five Points was a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The neighborhood
was generally defined as being bound by Centre Street to the west, the Bowery to the
east, Canal Street to the north, and Park Row to the south. The former Five Points is
now split between the Civic Center to the west and south, and Chinatown to the east
and north.